


Teaching Life (And Love)

by Huntress79



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Multi, Mute Bucky Barnes, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Polyamory, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Recovery, at least the beginning of it, but only for half of the story, or any of the other movies afterwards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 13:37:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22250341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: When she sees him for the first time, he immediately reminds her of a newborn foal - skittish, unsteady, but determined. Or: Laura and Clint help Bucky along in recovering from HYDRA - unconditional love inclusive.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Clint Barton, James "Bucky" Barnes & Laura Barton, James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers (background), James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Laura Barton
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28
Collections: Holly Poly 2019





	Teaching Life (And Love)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [weaselett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaselett/gifts).



> written for Holly Poly 2019 and weaselett. Set at some point after “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, ignores any other movie afterwards almost completely. Enjoy!

*********************

The man sitting in the sterile room in front of her has so absolutely nothing in common with what she would assume with a worldwide feared assassin, Laura mused to herself while watching Bucky through the large window.

When Clint told her about the man, who apparently was the long-lost former best friend of Captain America, Laura wasn’t afraid. Sure, she was constantly worried about her husband, but more about getting his (too big) heart hurt than any other part of him (though seeing another scar on him wasn’t good either).

No, she was rather worried about what the resurgence of Bucky’s repressed memories of his former life might do to the man’s psyche in general. She wasn’t a professional, not in the least, but even she had seen how certain things can influence people, both in a a good or a bad way. So she suggested to Clint that Bucky should start his recovery at their farm. And with the new baby in the house, they could use an additional set of hands helping out anyway.

“So, still determined to help him along?” Clint said from behind her, his arms coming around her waist.

“Yeah,” Laura replied with a nod. “If they put him in an institution, he’s gonna break completely.” At that, she felt Clint nod, and she knew her husband was thinking back when he was under Loki’s influence. “Would Captain Rogers be okay with us doing that?”

“Yes, he is,” the man in question answered from the doorway, taking both Bartons by surprise. “Sorry, ma’am, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No problem, Captain,” Laura said while turning around to him. “And you’re of course welcome any time to visit Bucky. Maybe together we can help getting his head back right.”

“I surely hope so, Mrs. Barton.” Steve turned around to face his friend. “It hurts to see him being so lost, and being apprehended the way he was surely didn’t help. I already had a lengthy talk with the World Security Council about that.” In the final part, Steve’s voice took on a steely edge, and both Laura and Clint knew by now that this was only happening when the Captain tried to rein in his anger. Something they both could relate to very well.

“So, what’s exactly the plan here?” Steve asked after some seconds of silence.

“Basically, we take him back to our farm and integrate him in almost every aspect of our daily life, no matter what it is,” Laura began.

“That also includes helping me out on the farm, but he’s not obliged to do anything,” Clint added.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Steve threw in, a soft smile appearing on his face. “The Bucky I grew up with wasn’t shying away from hard manual labor…. but I of course don’t know anything about him now,” Steve concluded, his eyes fixated on the other man.

“That’s something I wanted to tell you anyway, Captain,” Laura said while laying a hand on his forearm, forcing him to look at her.

“What?”

“That there’s a not so small possibility that you will never, ever get that Bucky you know back, at all.” She chanced a look at the man in question before returning her gaze to Steve. “God knows what they put him through in the past 7 decades or so, apart from the mind wipes… that’s what they called it, right? The things they did with that chair? Clint showed me a pic of it, and even though it’s been a couple of days, I still see it when I close my eyes.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what they called it,” Steve affirmed, his voice rough with emotions. “And part of me knows that you’re right, and that I should be grateful to have him back the way he is right now, but…,” he trailed off.

“But old habits die hard,” Clint finished for him.

“Yeah, they do.”

And before anyone could say anything else, Steve was out of the room.

*********************

A few days later, the Bartons went back to their farm, Bucky a mute presence in the passenger seat furthest away from the Quinjet’s pilot seat. Despite it being the first time ever that Laura was flying in them, she didn’t spend the flight taking in the breathtaking sights outside the jet, she rather alternated it with looking back at Bucky every once in a while.

“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Clint inquired suddenly.

“You’re not?” Laura fired back, only to see her husband shake his head no. “What if we can’t break him out of this shell they put him in?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, honey,” Clint assured her. “Besides, you seem to forget that we have two very enthusiastic kids as well. And I bet they will not give up that easily.”

*********************

Arriving at the farm was, mildly said, a strange event on its own. Nat was there, waiting with Cooper and Lila at the front porch, emanating calmness. But the second she realized who they had with her, she ushered the kids inside before meeting the Bartons and their guest halfway down the path.

“What the heck do you think are you doing?”

“Nat, we can explain…,” Clint began, only to be stopped by Laura’s hand on top of his.

“Natasha, I know what you’re thinking, and if I was in your shoes, I probably would think the same, but trust me, I know exactly what we are doing here.”

“And you’re okay with that, Laura?” Natasha asked, her eyes still trained on Bucky, who in turn apparently tried to shrink in on himself.

“Yeah, because I believe in second chances, and that everyone should at least have a chance to give it a try, even people with a lot of red in their ledger.”

Clint felt his heart swell upon hearing his wife’s words, reminding his “work wife”, as some of S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken to call Natasha, that only a few years ago, she was at the same low place as Bucky was now, eternally grateful that Clint didn’t execute the ordered kill on her after all.

Next to him, Bucky made a sound, and only then, Clint noticed that the other man was shuffling on his feet - apparently, the call of nature was getting louder and louder.

Grabbing the man at his wrist and giving it a tug, Clint marched past both women, glaring at Natasha to try and fight him right now. Which she didn’t, merely holding up her hands in surrender.

The kids weren’t in sight when they entered the house, but Clint knew that they were nearby anyway. Both of them were very curious, something that Clint even hoped on being a factor in pulling Bucky out of the Winter Soldier shell.

When he returned with the man in question to the kitchen several minutes later (Clint used the opportunity to get Bucky into something more comfortable than the baggy pants and too-small shirt S.H.I.E.L.D. had staffed him with after his capture), Laura and Natasha were sitting at the dinner table, both nursing a cup - Laura one of coffee, Nat one of tea.

Seeing the former assassin, Natasha got up and sat down next to Laura, her eyes never leaving Bucky for a millisecond.

After only a few tries, Clint and Laura managed to coax Bucky into sitting down as well before Clint put one of the kid’s sippy cups in front of the other man.

“Drink, it’s only tea,” Clint encouraged and was rewarded with Bucky taking the plastic cup in both hands and starting to sip slowly. Their new guest occupied for the time being, Clint poured himself a cup of coffee and joined the others at the table.

“Well,” Natasha finally spoke up, “since I can’t change your minds, not after Laura reading me her version of a riot act, what’s the plan with him?”

“Basically,” Clint began, “breaking him out of the shell he’s currently in. Further down the road, helping him in recovering whatever memories are still left upstairs.”

“And getting him to use his voice again,” Laura added.

“Yeah, from what Steve told me in the hospital, he,” Natasha continued with a nod to Bucky, “barely said a word during the whole showdown.” She took another sip of her tea and saw Bucky mirroring her actions. “And I… I want to apologize for my outburst earlier.” She first looked at Clint, then at Laura and finally at Bucky. “I... I guess my own bad memories impaired my judgement a bit. If I can help him in any way, I’d like to do that.” She looked up again, locking her gaze with Bucky. “Yasha, these are good people, probably the best you can think of, and if I’m honest, way above what people like us would ever deserve.” She blatantly ignored the twin snorts coming from the Bartons and carried on. “They both saved me, in more than one way, and if you let them, they will do the same for you. But you have to let them in, for your own sake. From what Steve has shared with Sam and me about the guy he grew up with, you too deserve better things than what you’ve endured in the past.”

With that, she got up from the table, put her cup in the sink, gave Clint’s shoulder a slight squeeze and was out of the kitchen.

*********************

The following first few weeks were, to sum them up, a rollercoaster of emotions.

On the one hand, Bucky oh-so-slowly began to interact with everyone on the farm, including the two stray cats that had taken up residence in the furthest corner of the barn, or the pair of birds that had built a nest on top of the tool shed. When he followed Clint around, he always put some old bread in a place where the cats couldn’t get in, and for the cats, he (and pretty soon, both kids as well) insisted that they should put up some milk, at least.

Bucky also did help as much as he could around the farm, no matter if he was working with Clint on one of his craft projects, gardening with Laura, or collecting fruits and vegetables from all the land around them. One morning, they even found him in the laundry room, folding all their clothes with an accuracy that left both Clint and Laura stunned.

And yet, on the other hand, the biggest “problem” with Bucky remained unsolved - he still didn’t say a single word, not even after over a month living at the farm. By now, Clint had already begun to teach him some ASL signs to make communication easier, but mistakes and misunderstandings were a common occurrence.

One evening in the fifth week, Clint and Laura were cuddled up on the swing on the side porch, enjoying the rather mild evening temperatures when Clint spoke up.

“Any ideas how we could get him to finally use his voice? I mean, we tried so many things, including exposing him to me singing with the kids, and I’m slowly reaching the end of the rope, so to speak.”

“I honestly have no idea either,” Laura admitted. “But I keep telling myself that both his mind and body have been exposed to so much traumata, over such a long time, that we just have to give it a bit more time.”

“I… I can talk,” a small voice came up, and only after they both had calmed down enough again did Laura and Clint realize that Bucky was standing in the doorway next to them.

“Come, Bucky, sit with us,” Clint said, pointing at one of the chairs opposite the swing. Slowly, with throwing glances at them every five seconds or so, Bucky finally crossed the short distance and sat down, keeping himself to the edge of the chair.

“Bucky,” Laura spoke up, her voice the same as if she was talking to the kids, and Clint realized that somehow, they had a fourth “kid” now with Bucky.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Please, first of all, relax a bit. Nothing can happen to you out here. And second, please call me Laura. ‘Ma’am’ makes me feel way older than I’m actually am.”

“Why do you help me? A killing machine that should be locked up…”

“Stop right there, Bucky,” Clint cut in. “You were under HYDRA’s control for so long, and let’s just say, I’ve been down that road of beating myself up over things that happened while someone else was using me as a puppet for their evil plans.” He leaned forwards, locking his eyes with Bucky’s pale blue ones. “Only difference between is that for me, that nightmare only lasted a week or so. But yours went on and on and on, and at some point, your mind gave up fighting. And that’s where we, Laura, Nat, the kids, and I come in. We’re gonna teach you how to life again, how to make decisions on your own again.”

“I… I don’t know how to do so,” Bucky admitted, breaking eye contact and turning his down to the floor.

“We’ll get you there, Bucky,” Laura assured, “but we need you to communicate with us. If you feel better, let’s just keep it between the three of us, for now. It’s not that different to what we are used from the kids. If they want something, they come to one of us, tell us about it, and we help them decide if they really want it or not.”

For some moments, silent reigned over them, only the sounds of nature getting ready for the night were heard. Bucky seemed to contemplate what the Bartons had told him.

“I… I would like to try that,” he finally decided.

“Okay, Bucky, we start slowly,” Clint told him. “We have nothing but time, since your mind has to recover from a trauma that’s close to impossible to imagine in the first place.” Next to him, Laura nodded her agreement. “And if you don’t feel like talking at all, you still can use ASL or grab some paper and a pencil and write it up instead.”

*********************

In hindsight, that evening was like a game changer for everyone involved. Sure, Bucky still went days without speaking more than just a few words to Laura or Clint, but he started to carry both a notebook (that Nat got him once Clint got her updated on the whole situation) and a small notepad around wherever he went.

By the time Summer came around, he was up to talking to the adults on a semi-regular basis, and more than once, Clint had heard him “talking” to either the cats or the birds, telling them things in a soft voice that fitted the man better and better with every passing day.

Fourth of July came up, and the evening before, Bucky asked them if one of them would sit with him when he tried to call Steve during the day, if only to wish him a happy birthday. Surprising everyone, Natasha was the first to agree to do so, stating that out of them all, she knew how to handle Steve, even across the distance.

In the end, the phone call was a quick affair, no intervention by Nat needed. Apparently, Steve spent the day with hunting down yet another Hydra cell in one part of the world or another, along with Sam and the Maximoff twins. When the call ended, Bucky looked like crushed, but he recovered quick, squared his shoulders, thanked Natasha with a soft smile, and went to help Laura preparing the little party.

“You okay with him preferring Laura over you?” Nat asked while sitting down next to Clint on the steps, handing over a bottle of beer and taking a sip from her own.

“Sure, no problem at all. From what Steve had told me, Bucky had a close relationship with his mother, so maybe he sees something that reminds him of her in Laura.” Clint took a sip. “Besides, as long as it gets him opening up to us, I’m okay with anything.” He looked at Natasha. “But thank you for looking out for little ole me.”

“No problem at all.”

*********************

What he didn’t know was that the upcoming night would bring another change to them. Not for the kids, or for Natasha, but for him and Laura and Bucky. And truth be told, Clint never, ever saw that one coming at all.

After watching the fireworks around them with glee and open mouths, Cooper and Lila were out like a light in no time, and for once, Clint didn’t have to read both of them at least two bedtime stories.

Coming back down to the kitchen, he was greeted with a sight he didn’t think was possible at all - Laura was all but leaning into Bucky, whispering something to him. Nat was leaning on the counter behind them, a rather fond expression on her face.

“Laura, honey, are you planning your independence from me?” Clint said with just a little bit of mock hurt in his voice before sitting down next to his wife.

“No, not at all, my dear husband.” She leaned over into him, bringing her lips up to his ear. In the corner of his eyes, Clint saw Nat leaving the kitchen, but only seconds later, his mind was occupied at all by his wife’s voice. “I plan on celebrating this night with not only one firework, but two.”

With that, she got up, held out a hand to both Clint and Bucky, which surprisingly both men took, pulled them out of the seats and up the stairs to the master bedroom.

*********************

The End

*********************


End file.
